Benchmark Dose Estimation in Environmental Risk Assessment: From Cancer to Genetic Toxicity and Beyond

• Activity Number: 387
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 3, 2010 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Memorial
• Author(s): Walter W. Piegorsch*+
• Companies: The University of Arizona
• Keywords: Quantitative risk assessment ; Risk analysis ; Dose-response modeling ; Quantal response ; Confidence limits ; Environmetrics

Abstract

The use of benchmark doses in environmental risk assessment has expanded greatly since their introduction as an estimation method in the 1980s. Originally described for toxicological endpoints, the methodology has moved into broader areas of application, including the important endpoints of cancer and genetic toxicity. Defining statistical methods for these latter two endpoints was a key research area of Barry Margolin's, as was the notion that any statistical method has at its core the translational potential to affect inferential problems away from its original arena. Illustrations are presented to show how the benchmark estimation paradigm has achieved a level of translational success in a diverse spectrum of risk management settings, and how it may continue to do so in the future.